Flash floods pummel NY

Heavy rain Saturday night caused flash floods across the southern tier of New York state.

BY TRAVIS DUNN | BALTIMORE |
August 11, 2003

Heavy rain Saturday night caused flash floods across the southern tier of New York state, particularly south of Rochester and around Elmira, according to Dennis Michalski, spokesman for the New York State Emergency Management Agency.

The National Weather Service measured three to five inches of rain across the region, and the worst of the flash floods affected Livingston, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben and Chemung counties, Michalski said. The village of Nunda, in Livingston County, and the town of Southport, a southern suburb of Elmira, saw some of the most concentrated damage.

Three homes in Nunda incurred severe damage, and it's possible that all three may have to be demolished, said David A. Parish with the American Red Cross in Geneseo. Families from two of these homes are being put up by the Red Cross at local motels. Several other Nunda homes saw basement flooding, and many roads incurred damage from the flood water. Some parts of town were still covered with three inches of mud on Monday, Parish said.

Mud was also a problem south of Elmira. The extent of the damage around Elmira was not entirely clear on Monday but preliminary estimates showed less than 100 homes in the area were damaged by the flooding.

Saturday night's storm added to rain and wind damage that began July 21, Michalski said, and many of the same areas were hit both times.

"It's been an ongoing series of storms that started on that day," he said.